primetime

No Joke- In Florida, all year round, although Winter is not the best time but I consider floating traps, ripbaits, and wakes topwater and weather is all over the place, but generally it gets really good Post Spawn which is usually Mid to End March-May here in Florida, sometimes earlier, but I throw topwater's over spawning flats all the time.....A torpedo or any bladed topwater prop bait will drive bedding fish crazy, so will a popper or Walking bait worked slowly. I find that if you can find emergent weeds a few feet from the surface and most guys are throwing flukes and maybe even fishing a texas rig, that is often when the topwater will really shine, those fish see flukes and sticks all day, so throw them a long a, Wake bait, Torpedo, Chug Bug, walking bait and sometimes it pays off. My favorite Topwater at this moment is the Bagley's Bang O lure #5 in Gold with the helicopter blade on back waked under the surface or buzzed, and every so often a nice 1-2' swim triggers strikes....The Long A in a few colors are deadly in both 14 and 15 size, and now is the time for some chartreuse and flash on your topwaters and lures like the crazy shad, xrap prop are all great post spawn lures and summer lures....

I think mine have oval line ties, but then again I don't use luckies as much as I used to and I modify most lures out of the package anyhow, especially topwaters, I feel all the hooks are too small most of the time and split rings to small as well so fish throw them too easy.. I am not familiar with Megabass except for the few I own but will never throw since they are simply conversation pieces, I can't get into $20 bills for lures that I give the action to...

Bass don't mind a little moss on the front of your bullet weight or jig as long as it is falling in front of them at the right time....I used to get annoyed when I first moved to Florida because the weeds in some places are crazy, but a few things that help....Scent and Oil to slide through, the right soft bait and weight-Make sure you do not have any crevice, the bullet weight or tungsten fits neatly over the bait.... I find that straight worms like a Senko and speed worm, or even the Yum Houdini SHad fluke are great for moss and flipping even with heavy weight. The Culprit Incredicraw is really good as it is thin and if fishing a hard bottom it shines if they want a bait on the bottom shaking, although most fish come on the initial drop and lift....Punch Rigs help for sure, heavier weights are best at times, and others a smaller weight and finesse bait and method will get you more bites as you need to be able to hit little areas so your bait has a chance to stay as clean as possible, but if flipping heavy hydrilla or Milfoil that is deep or has a hard bottom, those fish are all about reaction strikes, they could care less if some moss is on your jig, moss is on any crawfish or baitfish as well.....A good snap and it comes off, I love fishing rattle traps in and around submerged weeds and snapping them is a good method, but if you snap the jig to free weeds while trying to fish it, you usually will get snagged if around stalks of any kind...Hope that makes sense...But use Scent or worm oil,vegetable oil, It helps baits slide in and out faster, but accuracy will help, if Hyrdilla is top to bottom and not thin, fish probably are not using it anyhow.....Key is hard bottom but easier said than done often.

I have a Red Shad Anaconda worm tied on from spring to fall at all times without weight and if I need some added weight I simply put on a split shot or crimp a weight to my hook. I have done better with this worm by simply casting it out and letting it sit for at least a minute, lift it and let it sit....If fish are in the area they will grab it and most fish on the Anaconda are quality. I would be lost without the Shellcracker, I used to use the Bass Pro CLone shads but the tail on the rage is better and right now that is the perfect size bait for all the panfish in the water, and the Menace is possibly the best trailer out there rigged flat or sideways... I just picked up some CUt'R worms at Dicks on sale for $3.00 and I could not find any swim Senko's so I figure these should do the job since I did not like the look of the Swim n DInger like I thought I would...Seems more finesse and thin, I figure the Cut'r should tear em up this weekend above and through weeds, I took em out back to see how they look in the water and they come though weeds nicely, and also have a nice Junebug color.

I fish in the nastiest Hydrilla, Milfoil, and canopies of all kinds in the Florida Swamps and I know what you mean when you say "Nothing is Weedless" and essentially that is true since all the algae, moss, and junk alway's end up on your Jig, Punch Rig, Texas rig etc. etc... However, It is important to realize that If you are flipping a 1 ounce or heavier punch rig or jig into a patch of Hydrilla and it picks up some moss on the way down, I have never noticed the fish shying away. When I flip into a spot my goal is to get it in clean and quiet, and most strikes happen as soon as the Jig breaks through cover or hits bottom. If you give the jig a good lift instead of letting it shake on the bottom first, that should get the junk off the knot area and in the crevice, but like AJ is saying.....I find the Punch Rig to be the most weedless of all, and as long as I rig my bait properly (leaving room for the hook shank to slide during the set and not having the weight get in the way) I would say my hookup percentage is about the same overall because I get more strikes with a punch rig and it also doubles as a swim jig and for some reason it actually works better than a true swim jig for whatever reason, but here are a few tips that were shown to me by guys who live by the heavy broom stick and nothing but jigs and Pork..... 1- Scent and Oil added to your bait will help it slide in and out of cover much better, plus it will give you some extra time on a hook set and I like to use Megastrike and I often mix it up with some vegetable oil or straight worm oil, but I am dipping a lot....I also find that adding some glitter can help if they are feeding on shad or other forage... 2- For Jigs, the key is picking the right weight. I always used to go 3/8-1/2 and 3/4 was the heaviest I would think of before tungsten, and in the last few years I have finally become comfortable flipping with 1 ounce and up, and in Healthy Hydrilla, the water is usually clear, so a faster falling bait is key, and if moss is an issue, use a slim soft bait like the Zoom Speed worm with paddle tail, Bass Pro Swizzle stick, Culprit Fat Max is a favorite of mine as it is designed for cover, and the Regular Stick worm is not a bad idea either as straight worms with straight offset hooks and a hitchhiker helps (Siebert Jigs has everything you need and his pricing is better than Bass Pro and email the owner and tell him what you are looking to do and he will get you some killer custom jigs and punch rigs that last much longer than standard jigs. 3- Don't worry so much about weeds stuck on the top of your jig, the action is coming from the skirt and trailer, I love to bulk up Jigs by using a spider Grub as a trailer, but in situations when I am in the trash, I use a florida screw in weight or pegged sinker, punch skirt optional, make sure you do not have any areas for muck to lock in on, someone mentioned knots earlier and that is important but also how the bait enters the water is most important...Here is a great bait for flipping Hydrilla and then working back to the boat and you can get away with lighter weights as the bait is super weedless and does it all... YUM HOUDINI SHAD FLUKE/BUZZ WORM/Senko-4 tail options, just re introduced the bait as New and for $2.99 it is a steal of an all purpose soft bait...The Strike King Caffiene shad is fantastic but the Houdini Shad is a good alternative to the Paddle tails and is more streamlined.Also look at Culprit Incredicraw slim, and D.O.A. CAL paddle tail in gold rush is a fantastic flipping bait that you can also swim which I like in Hyrdilla, fish spook easier and often you need to get back and make long casts and truly work holes, if it is too thick than it is not good and will not hold fish if it is top to bottom choked...Sorry for the ramble, but try the scent, oil, thin worms, and the punch skirt helps and adds extra flare, or flip a spider grub, Houdini shad, fat max, senko, or Fluke...

I actually like clear cranks or topwaters in very clear water as I can fish a bigger bait and fish have a hard time telling the size since it is clear..A clear chug bug or clear rattle trap is killer for me a times when water is crystal clear in rivers, and I need lighter line...Don't sleep on translucent baits, the Sebile Flatt SHad Series has some great clear colors.

For some reason they all seem to have some chartreuse in them even if a touch, but I like to use a spike it chart marker and put a stripe on each side of all crankbaits when water is not crystal clear, or when bream are the foodsource..Right now I am throwing all chart/blue or chart/blacks in stained water with weeds.

a good quality barrel swivel helps, but so does the Gamakatsu worm hooks that have the bait keeper barbs on the hook and they are perfectly straight, designed for the exact application of using a bait that causes worm twisting etc...Sometimes you also have to let you line out every dozen casts or so and let it all out and reel it back in with tension...I find if I am doing a lot of twitching and changing speeds and directions with any bait or lure I get twitsting which causes the bait to roll...If a swivel is not an option, try to use your reel for action instead of your rod tip...Some reels are also better than others for even line lay.

D.O.A. Pinch weights..You can break them into any size you want and they fit well on almost any style worm hook. Mustad makes a weighted worm hook that comes with sliding weights on it similar to the Mr, Twister Keeper hooks, but they have a pin that keeps the baits on much better. The Zman Trigger Hooks are also great for a horizontal fall and they are super stout and will not bend on heavy braid and fast action heavy rod...

I recently purchased that Crème mad daddy lipless soft crank with the weedless double hook after a friend put me to school with it the other day..MY Home made double hooked lipless cranks and even a keitech with a double hook hung from the swimbait hook was not working as well and I actually think it was the vibrations.....I ordered 10 of the 2.5, 10 of the 3.5, and 10 of the 4.5" and they only cost $2.50 but man are they good baits. Not as weedless as the D.O.A. Tough guy which is a hollow belly swimbait with frog hooks, is sold as a saltwater bait and basically is a soft version shaped like a bluegill and hooks like the Norman scorpion, is my best bed bait, and the 2" size is bigger than you would think, but if you ever want a true weedless crank or swimbait this is the one, although you miss a lot of fish, but I also miss a ton on the Sebile etc...

Using a Slip Float with any soft bait is similar to a dropshot if you think about how it looks to a fish....In the cold the Float and Fly is probably the best way to get bites, and it is nothing but a suspended bait, suspended at the same depth the fish are holding... I find if it is windy, and lots of submerged or emerging grass, a slip float cast parallel to a weed edge like pads, with the rig set up with a bobber stop to keep it hovering a few inches above the weeds works well at times.. For Snook and Redfish on the flats and in mangroves one of the most popular methods of fishing for them is using a popping cork with a gulp shrimp or any softbait under the cork and if you pop it every few feet it drifts, or reel it, it gets the attention of fish and if a Snook will take it, than a bass will surely take it... I have only had success using soft baits with a loud popping cork for bass when in brackish stained water and a longer leader, and I like the bait to be on bottom so a craw works well, but Berkley gulp is essentially like using live bait at times. If fishing clear water and you want a bait to sit 2' off the bottom in 10 feet of water, instead of using the drop shot, try rigging a nose hooked finesse worm like the Dream shot or Smaller 3-4" Senko, or sassy shad and if you let it soak in the right spots with a Waggler float (The Thin one's, Bass will drop a soft bait if they feel any resistance for most part, but some guys use the Rainbow floats that flip when you get bit with a circle hooks so you simply reel when it goes down.. I rarely use this technique anymore because I like to fish fast and throw jigs and heavy weights and plastics, but on Lake Toho if I am in the back of the boat and drifting over endless grass flats, I will toss out a wacky rigged 3" senko 2 feet under a lindy TD waggler since the waves are usually large on that lake, and you will get a quick limit, big baits do not seem to work well for me so quality has been the biggest issue I have encountered...If anyone does something for larger fish I would love to know how.....

Keep in mind the ZMAN baits and Strike king elaztach baits are tough to keep on many hooks, the Gulp Jigheads work, but ZMan makes a jighead that is perfect as mentioned above, or simply use super glue.

Lipless cranks on a fast tip rod....

Add a walleye pill float, some are smaller than a 1/8 oz bullet weight, or purchase he Bett's Floating worm weights...Or add some fly fishing floatation silicone foam to your line...

Ask yourself this question....I just had this debate with a few guys while I was at the local fishing shop...How many Pro Tournaments have been one on the High Priced lures? Besides the Megabass Ito Jerkbaits and Suspending Jerkbaits, I am not aware of many tournaments won on anything besides crankbaits priced in normal ranges, Spinnerbaits, Pradco lures which I would guess have won the most money on tour with Bagley's, Rapala being the other's... Take a lure like the Yellow Magic Popper....Made in China, Painted in Japan, and sold out of Lake Fork and marked up a few 1000% percent. (Source-Tackle Retailer, In-Fisherman, Field and Stream...... Many of the lures I see people talking about as being the best are actually Reaction Strike lures which means that they do not have any special triggers built in and are essentially OEM lures, and I fish the Reaction Strike lures like the Lipless Lv Cranks, wakes and other lures since In know they are also in the line of more expensive lures...Some of the $60 Swiimbaits that guys use are often on Overstock for half price and link up directly to the Reaction Strike Website yet why pay $60 for a swimbait when the identical version is half price....My point is basically this...I work hard for my money and I enjoy buying lures and I will admit to buying many over priced lures simply because I loved the way it looked, but most of the time they sit in my box and I end up realizing that they are nothing special, although Confidence is what matters, and if you can afford expensive lures and they work for you, and you are convinced that another brand would not work, then heck yea, stay with the $30 Pencil walker. If you think the Buckeye Wake up is better than the Red Fin (and it may be,it does have some original features designed in, than you should spend the extra money because on every cast you will be questioning the Red Fin and wish you have the Wake Up...That is the best example I can give, I fish with a partner who will not throw the Red Fin, only the Wake up and for him he would lose all confidence even if I am catching more fish...And I keep telling him, slow down, it is not the lure, wake baits are all about speed, but I am sure somebody else could beat us both with a Matzuo wake bait if they figure out a better speed.... I would think that Jigs and Flipping baits and buzzbaits and Spinnerbaits, cranks and lipless cranks, softbaits are where the money is one for the most part...I would be better served buying a book on bass fishing for $20 than a Rico $1.77 per 100 popper direct from China, and yes, the moq is only a 100 and they are rico's, and that means I could probably get them for $150 shipped EMS 5 day.

Look for an area that has some cover and deep water nearby, start out throwing a chatterbait, Rattle trap, swim a speed worm or swimbait over the weeds, throw a wake bait like a red fin or Long A, swim a jig, spinnerbait, all depends where and when...I would use whatever technique you have confidence in, and allows you to cover water quickly to find fish...A fluke can be a good search bait, Carolina rigs are good, personally I find myself throwing traps, wakes, chatterbaits lately, and if certain fish are in the area I start working the Long A with a twitch twitch Boom action.....and wake the Jointed Red Fin, if a little ripple, I cast the biggest walking bait in my box and right now I am falling in love with the Rebel T10 and T20 walking baits, they replaced the Ima Skimmer for me, now I look at the Skimmers which are super pretty, but the Rebels cast better and flat out catch more fish. I still use the Skimmer in clear water because of the colors but the Rebel is a better walker imo and catching more fish for me lately, the T10 is similar in size and action, similar to the Tiemco bait as well, and the T20 is big like a spook or xwalk 13...It sits vertical and has an action that is awesome, cuts super sharp and kicks up more spray in the back since it is tail weighted and has a long cast system...ticked I never threw the bait until last year because it is a flat out producer, and when I worked at a local tackle shop it sold better than the spooks and skitter walks and priced the same...

I have not thrown a trap yet, but that is for sure going to be on my line next time out. I love throwing lipless cranks, I have been focusing on the heavy cover with jigs and plastics and I have done well with a chatterbait but I have not tried white, although I know a lot of people like white in that color water...The black and chartreuse pattern has been working well in both topwater, jigs, and plastics....I was thinking a brass and glass Carolina rig with a big senko or sluggo...

Great Question, I was just thinking about this driving home from fishing last evening....I get annoyed when moss or muck gets stuck to everything you toss into cover, but I have found that Thinner baits like a Trick Worm, Senko, and the right sized bullet weight or jig head (some of the Jig heads fit flukes and worms perfectly so there is not a "groove" which catches weeds. I wish I could use the Slider Jigheads and Luck E strike style bullet shaped jigheads but they are all light wire and with heavy braid and rod, those hooks are bending if you try to get a fish out of the Florida Summer Jungles... I have bent the Owner Bullet jigheads as well, but they are designed for light line finesse fishing and not 65lb braid deep into cover, they don't stand a chance unless you find fish in open water or get lucky. If anyone knows of a bullet shaped jighead that fits a Swim Senko or Speed worm snug, and is weedless with a heavy guage hook I would love to know what you use as I would love to find some...Often times a jighead is just easier to use than a bullet weight or Florida weight..... I do find that scent or even vegetable oil helps get your baits and jigs out cleaner...

I was curious to see what colors and techniques you like to use when facing stained/muddy water with the best visibility being 18" but overall the lake is in the 8-12" range, bottom is mostly soft with some areas having firm bottom and is a good mix of surface weeds, pads, and open water. Some of the lake has emerging weeds that grow a few feet from the surface and it is all productive weed growth that holds Fish in all areas. I know some like Bright colors while other's like the darker black and blue or laminate/two tone colors, rattles, etc. I am curious as to what colors and types of soft baits and lures people would choose in a situation like this.....I have the itch to buy some new tackle so all advice is appreciated. I have noticed that using the Tube of Megastrike on both soft baits and hardbaits seems to help even more in muddy water which makes sense.

They are a good jerkbait for the money and come with quality components. I would throw a strike King Jerkbait and have 100% confidence if I was out of Bomber Long A's.

This week....Rebel T10 Jumpin Minnow with a feather on the rear treble, Torpedo, Clear and Black Chug Bugs, Rebel Pop'r, and the Sebile Bongo Minnow 72mm

If you believe that they work better than they will, if you are not on fish, you can throw all the expensive lures you want and you will get shut out....Line, Casting Accuracy, cadence, sound, color, depth, and finding active fish or understanding when to throw what lure are more important in my opinion. $20 for a popper is insane to me, poppers can only do so much, most are pretty much the same, the American lures are also catching up in quality but I personally spend more money on vintage lures than I do new models. If you fish in lakes with Gar, no, they are not worth it in my opinion unless you can afford it....The Sammy is a nice lure, lots of nice colors and sizes, but I have a box full of walkers I would all say are just as good and same with all types of lures.....Spending crazy money on a swim bait and to me it is over $15 is not needed personally as I do fine with a Spro or Sebile, and my Reaction Strikes work well also, they make a few of the higher dollar ones people use anyhow.

Rapala, Bandit, Sebile